The need for information literacy (IL) has been determined by two main societal pressures. The first is the information explosion and the spread of ICT. Technology has made access to information increasingly easy to everyone, making the IL a basic competence. The second thread is represented by the reform of continuing education launched by the EU in 2000 (the Lisbon Strategy). The necessity every student to achieve such IL competence can be considered as an essential component in the context of the implementation of European policies for lifelong learning. IL as a need of society has been articulated by a series of standards promoted by international organizations In 2013, UNESCO along with the International Federation of Library Associations approved the Resolution on Information Literacy. IL has been understood as an essential skill for every citizen to be able to solve problems, to learn how to learn, to have critical thinking, to be able to communicate, participate, share and contribute to society. In March 2015, the EC together with representatives of various stakeholder groups, signed "Riga Declaration on e-skills", starting from the fact that to improve employability, it is necessary everyone, especially the university graduates, to have the ability to bring innovation in all areas and professional sectors using the best digital technologies. The development of IL is a social and economic policy priority, but at the same time also represents an educational priority for the European universities. The IL problem has been also largely entrusted to academic libraries and mainly dealt with as a competency to be spread and diffused among library users. The IL competency standards for Higher Education of the Association of College and Research Libraries in the USA from 2000 (used as a basis for IL training in some European countries) have been redesigned in 2016 in a Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. It encompasses the reflective discovery of information on the Web; understanding of how information is produced and valued and the use of information in creating new knowledge. The Seven Pillars of Information Skills model for higher education of Society of College, National and University Libraries of UK and Ireland (revised in 2011) distinguishes seven aspects related to information (identify, scope, plan, gather, evaluate, manage, present), themselves relying on basic IL and computer literacy capability. It is a model widely used by librarians and teachers around the world for planning training courses in IL, particularly in academic libraries, and also forms the basis for interactive tutorials. As a result of the above-mentioned actions, the higher educational institutions in Europe have been applying a variety of approaches to teaching IL. An analysis of the recent research initiatives shows that some positive examples of linking IL more closely and coherently to the subjects taught in universities exist, mainly thanks to the efforts of the libraries. The good practices of teaching IL are based on the concept of "teaching centered on the student". However, the potential of IL remains largely unrealized within mainstream learning systems in Europe. The instructions in IL reach only a part of students and are not coordinated enough. he situation varies by university and discipline as the integration of IL to the subjects in the Faculties of Sciences is better in comparison with this process in the Faculties of Humanities. Other serious barriers inhibiting IL integration within curricula are the relevance and appropriateness of syllabus content. In view of the aforementioned problems and the existing good practices, NAVIGATE project, involving 4 partner organizations from 3 European countries – Bulgaria, Sweden and Italy, will provide innovative solutions by applying a common game-based approach to IL training at Bachelor’s level in Europe for the first time and developing a student-centered strategy for blended learning in IL of humanities students based on this approach. The main objectives of the project are: 1. Elaboration of a competency tree (a strategy for IL training) comprising various dimensions that represent the core IL skills obligatory for students in a digital age (finding information, evaluating information, using information effectively) and support the acquisition of such skills synthesized as a syllabus definition. 2. Development of a game-based model for IL training consisting of a syllabus based on the competency tree; games included in the syllabus; working modules with specific game tasks, and game-based learning activities. 3. Design of a model of scenarios for the IL games. 4. Development of IL games and implementation of online platform to integrate the game-based learning model. 5. Elaboration of a handbook summarizing the project’s results to support future users (students and tutors) of the developed methodology for game-based learning approach to IL.
Information Literacy: a Game-Based Learning Approach for Avoiding Fake Content (NAVIGATE) is a project that aims to identify and create the conditions for a more effective approach to IL by the HE students in the humanities. Play is the dimension identified by the NAVIGATE project implemented by the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (Bulgaria) together with partners from Italy (University of Parma and Fondazione Politecnico di Milano) and Sweden (University of Gavle) in order to bring students closer to IL and to support the work of librarians and teachers. The goal of the NAVIGATE project was to help in developing critical information skills by going beyond the mere information contained in textual and bibliographic sources (from Information Literacy to Transliteracy). From a survey on the students' IL skills done in the first stage of the project, it emerged that students have little ability to evaluate the information they retrieve online and therefore do not know the preliminary stages of identification of specialized resources or even the important information management phase. A framework for the skills needed to avoid fake academic content was therefore developed as an interactive web tool consisting of five main pillars. The Competency Tree (https://www.navigateproject.eu/o1/competency-tree-as-a-wheel/) lists the skills that students must demonstrate at each of the stages of the research cycle. The aim is to guide students and their instructors to identify the skills gap. More information about the framework developed within the NAVIGATE project is available here: (https://www.justframeworks.com/#!/frameworks/32bc074c-9f64-e811-80c3-000d3ab2aaea). The Competency tree framework can be used both as a basis for game development as well as for direct teaching of information and digital skills to university students. It also served as the basis for developing a game-based model for IL training in the framework of the project. The model includes a plan for advanced modules with specific game-based activities to be applied by the academic libraries or integrated into the curriculum. Another important application of the NAVIGATE Competency framework was the selection and classification of the most relevant IL games in the interactive tool NaviGAMESearcher (https://www.navigateproject.eu/navigamesearch-tool/) to be used by librarians, teachers and students. The categorization of each game was done through the Competency tree and the following selection of technical specifications to be ranked from 1 to 10 points: playability, lastability, engagement level, user interface, and engagement level. As a next step two very different IL games in terms of objectives and architecture were developed by the project team. The games have versions in English, Bulgarian, Italian and Swedish and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback to the player. They were designed and developed in constant contact with students teachers and librarians in order to have direct feedback from those who would later become their main recipients. The timing in both games allows an easier use for trainers from an organizational point of view. The first game: Information Trap Manager (https://www.navigateproject.eu/itm/) is an adventure and strategy game simulating a university campus. It provides middle and advanced IL competences for undergraduate students. Each building of the campus represents a specific IL skill; then there are other environments (students' dormitory, students' cafe, students' club, library, examination centre, classrooms, knowledge centre) that help make the game more varied. The second game: the Navigator (https://www.navigateproject.eu/navigator/) is a storytelling based mini-game simulating the social texting apps. It starts with a breaking news followed by a chat-based dialogue with an AI-based robot assistant. The game aims to raise the awareness of HE students in humanities about the risks related to the quality of information sources. The CRAAP test model (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) was embedded in the Navigator game. In order to support the future users of the developed methodology for game-based learning approach to IL a multimedia training resource for the NAVIGATE games and outputs was created: NAVIGATE in 7 minutes (https://www.navigateproject.eu/summary/#/). The NAVIGATE project successfully met its main goal: to provide innovative learning solution by applying a common game-based approach to IL training at Bachelor’s level in Bulgaria, Italy and Sweden and developing a student-centered strategy for blended learning in IL of humanities students based on this approach. Except for the undergraduate students, the NAVIGATE games, tools and resources were made accessible to a wider target groups (teachers and librarians) and an interest to them was demonstrated not only by users from Bulgaria, Italy and Sweden but also from other European countries and the USA.